In the digital marketing world, there is no shortage of consultants, agencies and prospective employees who can dazzle you with best practices and channel-specific expertise. In reality, however, most of these so-called experts are largely operating from the same knowledge base.
So what should you look for in an agency? One comprised of savvy marketers who incorporate tried-and-true principles that existed long before digital. After all, while the channels have changed, the basic fundamentals of good marketing have not.
Are Specialists Really All that Special?
In the digital marketing world, they are often called gurus, rock stars and ninjas. They are the so-called digital marketing specialists, and boy do they have some new ideas that will knock your socks off. Unfortunately, these “new” ideas are usually the same old things being used by every other digital marketer.
The sheer volume of information on the web – training videos, case studies, white papers, product documentation, forums – means it isn’t that hard to do some research, run a few campaigns for your uncle’s company, and pass yourself off as an expert. As digital marketing continues to expand and evolve, the “experts” are becoming more like digital marketing generalists than actual digital specialists. More often than not, companies soon discover that most digital marketing experts are really only experts at marketing themselves.
Broad Expertise for Integrated Campaigns
Digital marketing offers unique benefits that make it much different from traditional marketing. For one, it offers unprecedented audience reach. It is also more cost-efficient and allows for more transparent measurement. At the same time, even as marketing has shifted heavily in the direction of digital, the fundamentals of effective marketing are still the same.
The way in which a company sells a product continues to rest upon the all-important 4Ps – product, price, place and promotion. Sale of service also continues to require three additional Ps – people, process and physical environment.
Designed to lure prospects and customers through the sales funnel, the four – our seven – Ps create the fundamental basis for any type of marketing strategy. Modern funnels are conceptual tools, which are based on awareness, interest, desire and action (AIDA).
When we think about how digital marketing fits within traditional marketing, it’s easy to believe it applies only to promotion. What makes digital so interesting and powerful, however, is that it touches on every single element of the four and seven Ps.
Specialization Isn’t Enough
Over the past decade, digital marketing has become like an unwieldy beast. In turn, it has grown too large and diverse to be captured by any one specific expert, regardless of his or her talent.
These days, it takes a team to create effective campaigns that seamlessly work together across multiple channels. This type of integration requires a clear understanding of a company’s objectives, audience, budget and how it all meshes with available digital opportunities. It also depends on an agency’s ability to measure, monitor, log, report and learn, using comprehensive analytics that give clear insight into how a campaign is performing.
This all demands much more than a so-called digital guru, rock star or ninja; it requires a complete team of seasoned marketing experts who can tailor-fit their efforts to the needs of every individual client, combining digital strategies with tried-and-true marketing concepts.
The value Parallel Path brings to it’s clients extends beyond expert channel management, to include brand positioning and brand strategy, go-to-market planning and execution and digital transformation. Get to know Parallel Path and contact us when you are ready to Start Winning Digital.